It is insane. I started at the bottom of recession 2009 at a university for 46k.

I'm sure it depends on geography and living cost but 36k is very low imo for a private company.

Public companies such as public university, government, and such still pay a bit above that on top of good compensations (healthcare, vacations, etc...).

This is USA of course.

France in general could be different in term of tax, healthcare, etc...